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CAN’s Bold New Era: The Story of ‘Soon Over Babaluma’

Poetic Wax | December 13, 2025



In 1973, legendary Krautrock band CAN lost their charismatic lead singer Damo Suzuki. A year later, in November of 1974, they remade themselves and gave us Soon Over Babaluma. This is the story of that album, how a band can indeed find success after their frontman leaves.

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CHAPTERS:
0:00 An Intro to CAN
1:01 The Lead-Up to Soon Over Babaluma
3:13 Krautrock and CAN’s Genre Fusion
5:14 Inner Space Studio
6:58 Non-Western Rhythms and Scales
8:24 Minimalism and Ambient Music Influences
9:33 Tracks on Soon Over Babaluma
11:23 The Legacy and Influence of CAN

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Written by Poetic Wax

Comments

This post currently has 43 comments.

  5. @spiritof6663

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    The last truly classic Can album. "Landed" has its moments but was the start of a downturn. "Babaluma" just might be my second-favorite Can release after "Tago Mago". It's great to see a whole clip devoted to the album here, which seems to be slightly overlooked in their catalog.

  6. @worshipthenephilim

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    Great to see this Landmark album getting some much-deserved attention! Enjoyed your lively critique and the snippets of live recordings were great. I have the original vinyl, it's possibly my favourite Can album and amongst my all-time favourites from the 'Krautrock' era. Thanks!

  8. @pedrorocha9722

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    I really don't enjoy this album. Can was kind of lost and ailmess. Still , they no longer had with them one of the worst front man in music history. I usually don't have strong dislikes but their, by now, ex-vocalist, wow…is a very strong exception to the rule. I kind of like the lighter Can Landed.

  10. @Xylographer

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    Discovered can in 1973. I remember buying this soon over babaluma album right after it came out now in my twilight years I’m so happy to hear YouTube videos like this one thanks guys❤

  13. @petergurney4714

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    …became the end of the band as 'Can'.. after Damo left… they tried.. but it just didn't work.. they became very skilled jazz-rock-funk-silly electronic-faux disco …mush… boring wallpaper – everything that early Can fought against… tragic…

  19. @Thecaptain1898

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    Can is such a frustrating band. The perfect example: The first lp of Tago Mago? Genuinely one of the greatest pieces of music of all time. Aaaaaand then the second lp, never should have been released. It's 40 minutes of chaotic noise. If they'd just released the first lp, would've been perfect! Thats can. They have some incredible songs and ideas, mixed with chaotic noise. Still, Can is one of my favorite bands! I honestly think post Damo was better. Have you heard Flow Motion!?

  24. @helenwhite2066

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    Much as I appreciate the ambition of soon over babaluma,I regard their next album Landed as my favourite.also neu and there next incarnation La Düsseldorf produced wonderful music.

  25. @CanAlternateLostTape

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    Their last great effort, if only for side two. It always amazes me that on Chain Reaction, what was essentially a shaggy though uniquely intelligent psychedelic jam band arrived at the same sound world as 1990s trance techno, all the way back in 1974. On the other hand, it’s telling that Splash was skipped over in this video, as there we see Can devolving towards the kind of ersatz Santana-wannabe fusion that would dominate the rest of their discography thereafter.

  26. @daccrowell4776

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    It's a great album…but it's also their LAST great album.

    Can's strongest point was their ability to use limitation as a tool. From "Monster Movie" through to this album, Can would accept numerous limitations that did quite a bit to forge their sound. Losing Damo is one of the big limitations here…and of course, they ran with it.

    Can's problems started when they decided to mitigate limitations instead of using them. On "Landed", they'd acquired an MCI multitrack and desk, figuring that this would be an improvement.

    But what this setup ACTUALLY did was that it killed the recording method used up to then. Holger used two Revox 2-track machines, requiring the band to deal with studio tech in the same way they did when live…play into these, overdub with an A to B "ping", then Holger would bust out the block, blades, and splicing tape to reduce several live-in-studio passes down to a single, definitive master.

    With the MCI rig, though, this method was abandoned over the course of making the next album, "Landed". Holger once mentioned that as the multitrack became more integrated into the studio, members of the group gradually stopped doing the jam techniques. After all, if you can show up, put your parts on, then dip… that's pretty much how the mainstream industry was doing stuff in the mid-70s.

    It goes without saying, though, that Can's music was 100% NOT "mainstream" up until "Landed". But by resorting to the "industry standard", the mainstream began to trickle in.

    Also, this left Holger with much less to do. So he started exploring something closer to experimental music while the rest of the band went… disco? This left a hole where the bass was…and this is how Rosko Gee and Reebop got added to the band after they left Traffic.

    Ultimately, this arc ended with an incident between Reebop and Holger when, during a performance, Reebop turned off the amp Holger was using for his live electronics rig. Holger came out from behind that to confront Reebop…and got cold-cocked. Holger quits.

    This was NOT survivable. The next album, minus Holger, was "Out of Reach"…the only album that Spoon has NEVER reissued, mainly because it's really not a Can album at all. Rosko Gee also wound up with writer's credit on there…another first, possible only because the group had become a fragmented mess.
    After "Out of Reach", they brought Holger back after firing (another Can first) Rosko and Reebop, but it was too little, too late.

    So "Soon Over Babaluma" is, in a very real sense, the "last great Can album"…not because of the changes, but by trying to "improve things", they made things much WORSE. You can sense it on "Future Days", even; the apparent ease and freedom of the music on that album tops what we find on "Babaluma" any day of the week except perhaps for "Chain Reaction / Quantum Physics". That pair of tracks (side 2 of the vinyl) still displays them at their very best, even minus Damo.

    Such an amazing bunch of musicians, really. It's not at all surprising that we can hear their influence right up to today. But then, while Krautrock is finally getting its due these days, Can's output from "Monster Movie" through to this album is on a whole 'nother level of importance…sort of like how jazz in the 1920s was important, but Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Hot Seven sides are much more significant.

  27. @WizardofFuzz

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    Thx for this!!! Can might be my favourite band. I discovered The Fall through their song "I Am Damo Suzuki." I wrote my master thesis on The Fall. At that time I was dating a girl in Cologne. She had another partner who used to be flatmates with Damo Suzuki. Small world!!

  36. @d.schindler7882

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    Thank you for this! Amazing! This is one of my favorite albums and groups. Damo responded to one of my fan emails many years ago. So sad when beautiful Michael Karoli passed so young. Rip Damo and Holger and Jaki.

  37. @bakeone4406

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    The "It's important to understand what that term actually means" statement is dead wrong. The term Krautrock has really never had much descriptive value and it's only gotten weaker over time. Faust and Birth Control are both generally considered Krautrock bands, same goes for Kraftwerk and Guru Guru. They have almost nothing in common musically. It's kind of like calling everything that came out of the UK in the 70's, Britrock.

  39. @clangersspace2679

    December 13, 2025 at 11:55 pm

    Shame about 'Splash' though, a crushing bore, rather spoilt things.
    And, everyone loved Can, that pissed me off. There were other very brilliant 'Krautrock' bands but no, it was only Can….and Kraftwerk for most ppl……..gotta be hip and cool and with it don't you. So much of Tago Mago is fucking awful too. Peking O – Jesus Wept…….Augmn was bloody good mostly, nice dog interjection……..as for Malcolm Mooney……Wow…….

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